Blue Devils see what's in reserve

Tuesday

DURHAM — Duke doesn’t plan on deviating from its core players, but coach Mike Krzyzewski said it’s important that others prove to be up to speed as well for the nation’s top-ranked team.

Tonight against St. Francis (Pa.) might be another chance to assess the potential for some of the Blue Devils reserves.

“Sometimes just a couple of plays a kid makes is the jumping off point to be better, not number of minutes,” Krzyzewski said.

Duke won’t abandon its primary unit.

“The main people are those top guys,” Krzyzewski said, while pointing out the playing time for others was invaluable in Saturday’s romp past South Dakota.

Four reserves logged at least 14 minutes and three others combined for 11 minutes. That was in contrast to the Indiana game earlier last week, with four Blue Devils playing off the bench for a total of 26 minutes.

“It helps with developing guys coming off the bench,” senior guard Grayson Allen said. “(It) helps continue getting them minutes, getting them comfortable in the game and just continuing defensively. As a young team, getting our good habits on defense.”

Alex O’Connell and Marques Bolden had the most minutes off the bench. Javin DeLaurier took advantage of his extra time on the court with a career-high 13 points in 15 minutes. The sophomore forward’s previous high was six points.

It wasn’t all smooth. Reserves accounted for 12 of the team’s 19 turnovers.

“It’s a little bit of a reality check for a kid coming off the bench,” Krzyzewski said.

The St. Francis game is the Blue Devils’ last outing before an Atlantic Coast conference matchup at Boston College on the weekend.

On Monday, Duke tied the NCAA record for most weeks as a No. 1-ranked team, matching UCLA’s mark of 134.